Workshops and/or Photo Tours??

[flippyot]

Hey All,

Just curious as to what some of your favorite workshops or photography tours have been?

I've been thinking about doing a workshop/tour in Australia but just wanted to find out peoples opinion of how these things go.


If I did go i'd bring my Bessa R w/ 35mm/2 50mm/1.5 90mm/3.5 and my Nikon F100 w/ 28-200mm/3.5-5.6. Also I'd bring 30-50 rolls of film for a week long trip.
Would this cover a trip ?

 

[wotalegend]

You got some particular workshop in mind? I live in Melbourne, and I hardly ever see any workshops advertised in Australia......not accessible to me anyway, it's a big country.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Sort of a hijack, but not quite...

Why does ANYONE go on tours/workshops? What do you learn that you wouldn't learn just by going somewhere and taking pictures? How do you handle being constrained by the timetables/priorities of others?

This is looking at the question from the other side, in two senses. First, not 'What's good?' but 'Why bother?' and second, people have often asked me about doing workshops but I've yet to work out how to make it either tolerable or profitable (for either party).

I'd be really interested in others' negative experiences, as it shows what to avoid. I already know some people who are 'workshop junkies' and do two or three a year -- which, from their enthusiastic descriptions, sound dire to me...

Cheers,

Roger

 

[mtbbrian]

I attended the Maine Photographic Workshops last summer(2006), I was in John Goodman's "In Search Of The Personal".
I got a lot from it, not anything technical or anything like that, but rather I really found out the real meaning of photography in my life, as well as other intuitive things about my photography.
I know that workshops aren't for everyone, but I think that if you go into it with an open mind and are willing to get into it, you'll come away with something.
I was very fortunate to have been awarded a scholarship to the Workshops, so my expenese were reduced, but I would have done it at some point on my own.

I only am familiar with the Maine and Santa Fe workshops, but I am assuming that the workshop you are talking about has a catalor and or website. I'd recommend you go through it once and see what workshops piques your interest, then go through it again paying special attention to those that caught your eye and go through it once more or more times until you get down to "the one" that feels right for you and your photography.

I'd do it again, if I could, it was a great experience and I also made some new friends from many different places in the world.
Not only that, it was by far the most photography intensive periods of my life, in that everything I did that week had to do with photography. Be it my own, someone elses or some icon, or some technological or aesthic element, you name it was all about photography!

I had 50 rolls or so, mostly 120 for my Holga, but 10 of those rolls were 35 for my then F100. I shot about 9-10 rolls. Most workshops lab fees will cover X amount of rolls, etc..
Your kit will be good.

Good Luck!

Brian